Always
by purpleparibug
Summary: During the eclipse Blossompaw lost her sight, forcing her to become a med. cat apprentice. The apprentice has a secret, she's in love with a fellow clan mate!   But thats not all the secrets in the forest of MintClan.
1. Alliances

M I N T C L ANLEADER **Owlstar**– brown tabby tom

DEPUTY **Tinycloud**- small fluffy white she-cat

_Apprentice, Crowpaw_

MED. CAT **Fawnheart**- pale gold she-cat

_Apprentice, Blossompaw_

WARRIORS

**Stormclaw**- grey tabby tom

**Snowfang**- white tom

**Duskflower**- orange she-cat

_Apprentice, Emberpaw_

**Greytail**- white tom with a grey tail and feet

_Apprentice, Larkpaw_

**Dapplepool**- tortoiseshell she-cat

**Tigerfoot**- brown tabby tom with large feet

**Oakclaw**- dark brown tom

APPRENTICES

**Crowpaw**- large black tom

**Emberpaw**- ginger tom

**Larkpaw**- brown she-cat with darker brown stripes

**Blossompaw**- tortoiseshell she-cat with a dappled coat

QUEENS

**Sunpelt**- ginger she-cat

(mother of Crowpaw and Emberpaw as well as Fernkit,

Flamekit, and Smokekit)

ELDERS

**Littlefoot**- brown tom

**Bluepetal**- blue-grey she-cat


	2. Prologue

_Prologue~_

Blossompaw's fur ruffled in the morning breeze. The smell of mint spread itself through the camp, cleansing it with the fresh scent, the perfect way to ease out of a sticky Greenleaf and melt into promisingly crisp Leaf-fall.

_'Today's going to be perfect,'_ Blossompaw thought, happily watching a butterfly flitter across the camp clearing, _'I get to train with Crowpaw all day!'_

"Blossompaw!" a gravely voice called," Crowpaw's already showed up, even before he ate!"

The tortoiseshell she-cat jumped up and just about sprinted to her mentor, "Coming Stormclaw!" The giddy apprentice purred when she saw Crowpaw, the black apprentices was almost as large as the average warrior and could easily squash a kit with his even larger paws. Whenever Blossompaw saw her friend happiness shivered down her spine and she started walking on air.

"Hey Blossompaw," Crowpaw stifled a laugh as his den mate tripped over Fernkit and into one of the mint patches that were common in the forest, "You seem especially clumsy today."

The recipient of StarClans 'bottled up fury' jumped up and shook the mint out of her pelt, "I'll smell extra minty today!" she mewed happily, carefully bounding up to her mentor and friend, "So where are we headed to today all powerful Stormclaw?"

The grey tom rolled his eyes at his apprentice; "I was hopping that you'd make time in your busy schedule to head to Shady Hollow for some combat training and then a little hunting practice near the Mint Cave."

The two apprentices nodded, eagerly following the warrior to the camp entrance. Blossompaw was recounting a dream she had had the previous night about a dashing tomcat rescuing a bumbling, but beautiful she-cat from the claws of the nasty badgers. Stormclaw couldn't help but notice that the description of the "dashing tom cat" reminded him quite a bit of the large black apprentice listening intently to his much smaller den mate.

Suddenly a change came to the peaceful forest.

The birds stopped their chattering up in the trees. The wind stopped blowing and came to an eerie standstill. Even Blossompaw stopped her jabbering to look into the sky where a large black disk was covering the sun, causing an even more terrifying darkness. The trio could hear the shrieks coming from the camp, breaking through the barrier of silence.

"Blossompaw! Crowpaw! Don't look at the sun!" Stormclaw cried out, remembering a legend one of the elders told him as kit.

But Blossompaw was so intrigued by the strange occurrence she couldn't keep her bright eyes away. Suddenly the blinding light of the sun returned and in the same second everything went black for the young warrior-in-training, Blossompaw.

* * *

**a/n** Really short prologue. Wasn't really part of the original story, but I figured that how ever many people are actually reading should know how Blossompaw lost her eyesight. Also I know that eclipses last for longer than like 10 seconds, but I'm too lazy to write about 10-15 minutes worth of time.

disclaimer: I don't and probably never will own Warriors.


	3. Chapter 1: In which Blossompaw complains

_Chapter 1~ In which Blossompaw complains_

"Blossompaw," a gentle but annoyed voice stood out in the blurriness of the apprentice's dreams, "Blossompaw!" This time the voice penetrated all the way through the tortoiseshell she-cat's dream barrier, startling her awake.

"What now Fawnheart?" Blossompaw grumbled while slowly getting up from her comfortable napping place, "Another kit fall off the Mint Stone?"

"Blossompaw!" Fawnheart scolded her apprentice, "Smokekit could have been seriously injured if we hadn't helped in time! Remember we-"

"Yah, yah 'We are the base of MintClan's foundation, without us the Clan would fall apart and all connections with StarClan would be lost'," Blossompaw repeated the words she kept hearing whenever she didn't take her job seriously enough, "Well I didn't ask to become the foundation of MintClan! _I _was stupid enough to look into that eclipse that _still_ evades a sign that StarClan was telling us something!"

"Well you might not have asked to become the foundation of MintClan, and you may be lucky and not be the cat StarClan wishes to be my apprentice, but until tonight you still have to accept your mistake and help me gather some catmint before the frost kills it," the golden medicine cat turned and headed towards her den secretly hoping that StarClan didn't deem her whiney apprentice appropriate for the job of medicine cat.

Blossompaw followed the sharp, herby scent of her mentor into the medicine cat den. She noted the distinct changing of temperature upon entering her home of three weeks. Secretly the tortoiseshell apprentice feared a rejection from StarClan, if they rejected her a medicine cat apprentice what would she do then?

_'I'm to young to become an elder, I can't become a warrior according to Owlstar for my handicap would restrict me,'_ Blossompaw thought of the possible futures if she couldn't be an apprentice to Fawnheart, _'I'm to young to be a Queen, not that I really want to right now anyway. Ugh! I'd just become a lump of dead weight for my Clan to carry!'_ This thought terrified her far more than the possibility of becoming an elder.

Suddenly a familiar earthy scent drew nearer, an infected scent mingled with the rest of Larkpaw's scent. Blossompaw was still startled by the extention of her other senses after her eyesight was stolen from her.

"Fawnheart! Larkpaw's coming, and by the irregular sound of her walking I think something's wrong with her foot," the medicine cat apprentice called to her mentor just as the said cat padded through the cave entrance.

Blossompaw couldn't help but giggle at the waves of embarrassment eminating from her sister. "Fall into that 'hole' again Larkpaw?" the tortoiseshell apprentice teased, "I'm surprised Greytail hasn't demanded that you start hunting somewhere else yet."

The embarrassed waves washed over nearly every other emotion in the cave, "Whatever Blossompaw, at least I _can_ hunt," the brown she-cat ruffled her fur angrily.

Blossompaw frowned and turned her head towards the ground, "Whatever," The apprentice got up and stalked to the back of the cave and into the medicine storage. The she-cat grabbed a large fern-like leaf, it was one of the only herbs she could remember by name instead of scent like the rest. Blossompaw screwed up her face at the potent taste.

"Blossompaw, I'm sorry…" Larkpaw guiltily lowered her head, "You know I didn't mean it the way it came out…"

"Don't worry about, okay?" Blossompaw spit the chervil leaf juice onto the infected wound, "Just worry about that hole! This time your wound was infected by the dirt and StarClan knows what else is in there."

"Blossompaw time to go!" Fawnheart reappeared from wherever she'd been, carrying something sweet and delicious smelling, although the lovely scent was mostly covered up by a putrid, musty smell.

"Oh yuck! What is that Fawnheart?" Larkpaw called out in disgust, "It's all moldy and just… ewww!"

The golden medicine cat let out a soft _mrrow_ of laughter, "It's catmint little one, although this batch has gone bad, must've gotten some rain on them somehow…" Blossompaw could feel worried shivers running down Fawnheart's pelt. Obviously something was worrying her, but what?

"Anyway," Fawnheart's mew became crisp, "Let's hurry and go collect some catmint Blossompaw! Tonight's your first half-moon gathering and Runningpaw has been dieing to meet another medicine cat apprentice."

• • • •

"Blossompaw, be careful when you go over this wall!" Fawnheart called out to her apprentice. The two she-cats were sitting on a wall dividing the forest from the lone twoleg nest.

Blossompaw felt anger built up inside of her, "It's because I'm blind isn't it! You don't think I get over a wall without falling and hurting myself!"

"No," the medicine cat's frustration prickled under her golden pelt, "These are the only twolegs living in the area, and they have a dog so be careful not to wake it."

Feeling foolish for being so angry and not realizing the very clear scent of dog, Blossompaw leapt off the sturdy wall and onto a squishy, damp, earthy smelling area. The tortoiseshell she-cat felt Fawnheart lightly land on her paws next to her. The medicine cat purred, "Perfect! Some catmint is hasn't been completely killed by the frost!"

The medicine cat in training was hit by the overwhelmingly delicious scent of catmint. Unlike the disgusting moldy smell Blossompaw had scented at the camp, this catmint was clean and fresh smelling. Even in spite of herself, Blossompaw couldn't help but purr.

"There must be a lot," the apprentice noted, "The scent is hard to ignore!"

"This is the most I've seen here, but it defiantly is a lot," Fawnheart agreed, "Now let's hurry! The sun is setting and it'll take a while to Moon Cave!"

• • • •

Blossompaw couldn't help but be a little excited as she and Fawnheart padded down a bumpy, and springy path to the border between MintClan and SageClan. This was something only she would experience and she was sure Crowpaw and Larkpaw would be curious about it, neither of them had ever been inside the Moon Cave and Larkpaw hadn't made her apprentice journey there yet, and wouldn't for a long time.

As they drew nearer the scents of SageClan grew more and more prominent, Blossompaw found herself holding her breath from time to time since the smell was so unfamiliar and repulsive to her. Soon the tortoiseshell apprentice could pick out the scents of two cats; a very old she-cat and a younger apprentice.

"Well who do we have here?" the older she-cat Blossompaw had identified earlier croaked, "Have you finally taken and apprentice Fawnheart? She seems a bit plucky…."

Blossompaw's fur bristled. How dare this old flea bag talk to her like she wasn't there! Anyway it wasn't like being plucky was a bad thing….

"Don't listen to her," Fawnheart's voice appeared in her ear, "She's just disappointed she got left with Runningpaw and not some more capable apprentice."

"Hey!" a younger cats voice called out, "I'm plenty capable of being a medicine cat!" Blossompaw could feel determination and a wish to prove himself laced in voice, "Hey, you're blind!"

"Tell me something I don't know," Blossompaw decided she didn't like Runningpaw that much.

"But how can you treat your patients if you can't see them?" Runningpaw's voice was bursting with curiosity.

Blossompaw's eyes narrowed and stalked up to Fawnheart, "Can we get going now?" she pleaded.

Fawnheart laughed, "Of course little one, let's get going everyone! Sparrowfeather won't be happy if we show up late." The last bit came out as a command. As the other cats started moving Blossompaw realized how much respect they had for her mentor.

The journey to Moon Cave wasn't as long as Blossompaw had anticipated, but it was hard to not yell at Runningpaw's stupid questions. The medicine cat apprentice was sure she'd loose it when he'd ask "So how exactly did you loose your eyesight?" She didn't enjoy becoming a fellow apprentices science experiment. Sparrowfeather of CloverClan turned out to be a fairly young tom, Blossompaw could tell he was bursting to question her as well, but had enough sence to keep his questions to himself.

Fawnheart rest her tail on Blossompaw's back to let her know that they'd arrived, "Now in the center of the cave there is a clump of mint, sage, and clover that symbolizes each of our Clans come with me and stick your nose in the mint."

"What happens then?" Fawnheart's apprentice was oozing with curiosity.

"You'll see," the golden medicine cat replied, "Now let's go."

Blossompaw stuck her little nose in the clump of mint, letting the nice scents take her over as darkness came.

* * *

**a/n** Yay! Now we get into the actual story! I'll probably go back and fix any grammar/spelling errors later. And oh yeah, there are two other clans in the forest where MintClan lives, but they aren't really important to the story line so I didn't see much point in adding them to allegiances.

Man normally I think I've typed so much, and ends up being not much at all. Dx

coming next: Blossompaw meets with StarClan. *dun dun dun*

disclaimer: I don't and probably never will own warriors.


	4. Chatper 2

_Chapter 2~ In which Blossompaw converses with StarClan_

The first thing Blossompaw noticed when opening her eyes was the burst of color, everything seemed so much brighter than she had remembered; the grass greener, the stars so much brighter! Blossompaw purred in spite of herself.

"Welcome young one," a deep rumbling voice startled the apprentice, making her jump up and around unsheathing her claws and sinking them into the rich soil.

A large smoky grey tom, whose pelt sparkled with the stars gave a rumble of laughter, that was similar to thunder, "No need to be afraid, I'm Smokestar–"

"And I'm Mothflight," a petite tortoiseshell she-cat appeared beside the deceased leader, "Actually there is plenty reason to be afraid of Smokestar, I mean look at him! He's terrifying!"

Smokestar narrowed his eyes at Mothflight, "Why isn't Sweetwhisker here? I think Blossompaw deserves the right to speak to a former medicine cat of her clan."

"Then why are you here!" the tortoiseshell she-cat retaliated.

"Well I was leader of MintClan before Owlstar, so I think I have the right-"

Mothflight's pelt started bristling, "And _I_ was–"

"Mothflight! Smokestar!" another she-cat appeared, this one was a milky-white color, "I think Blossompaw has had nearly enough of you two! I'm Sweetwhisker by the way," she added, "And I'm sure you have some questions, but-"

"Yeah I have a few questions!" Blossompaw replied angrily, "Why did you send the eclipse! If you wanted to give us a sign for something why couldn't you have done it in way that didn't involve me losing something precious!"

The three cats were silent, exchanging glances, "Well you see, our sign is standing right in front of us!" Sweetwhisker finally said, "You'll be a greater help to your clan if you're a medicine cat."

"Plus any kit of yours would be doomed," Mothflight added.

"Mothflight you mousebrain!" Smokestar cuffed the deceased warrior on the head, "I don't think Blossompaw really needs to here that right now! No until she here's the rest!"

"The rest of what?" Blossompaw asked, but Smokestar and Mothflight's bickering drowned the blind apprentices words.

Sweetwhisker shook her head, "Let's go Blossompaw, we need somewhere less loud to discuss this."

The milky-white she-cat walked to the edge of the clearing, Blossompaw could have sworn on next year's herbs that stars were spraying out of the medicine cat's feet as they touched the ground. The tortoiseshell apprentice followed the medicine cat curiously, happy to leave Mothflight and Smokestar's bickering behind as the two cats appeared in another clearing. This clearing was rocky, with a giant tree protruding out of the center.

"Come," Sweetwhisker placed her self in the roots of the large tree, "I think we owe you an explanation."

_'About time,'_ Blossompaw thought bitterly, stomping over to the white medicine cat.

"Now as I'm sure you've figured out, StarClan wishes for you to be a medicine cat for reasons even your warrior ancestors are still deciphering, " Sweetwhisker explained, her voice a gentle lullaby in the gentle, yet mysterious breeze," And as Mothflight already announced any kits born to you will be doome-"

"But _why_!" Blossompaw nearly yelled, "You have yet to explain why I can't have kits, why I'm a medicine cat, and why I'm blind!"

Sweetwhisker's eyes became lost in the distance, even the stars reflecting in them disappeared, "StarClans will is becoming clear…"

Suddenly Sweetwhiskers gentle voice became one with thousands of voices, combining into a great yell, "_There is one who in darkness can end the battle and in light bring the whole forest down to its knees…_"

The eternal darkness started leaking into Blossompaws eyes, "Wait! What does that have to do with me! It doesn't even mention the things you told me!"

The tortoiseshell she-cat felt herself fall back to the land below, where darkness reigned. The smell of mint jolted the apprentice awake.

"Blossompaw…. Blossompaw," Fawnheart's mew entered into her ear, "How was your first meet with StarClan?"

* * *

**a/n** Still short and probably reeeaaaallly confusing, but all will be made clear in the end.

I also personally don't think everyone in StarClan gets along perfectly, so if that explains Mothflight and Smokestars relationship somewhat...

Thank for reading!

disclaimer: I don't and probably never will own warriors.


End file.
